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A23
MONDAY,
SEPTEMBER 8,
2014
• Twitter: @GuardianTT • Web: guardian.co.tt
LOS CABOS---Hurricane Norbert
slumped to tropical storm force off of
Mexico's Baja California peninsula
yesterday, after pounding fishing
villages and damaging more than 1,000
homes while kicking up dangerous surf
farther north along the California coast.
Norbert peaked as a Category 3
hurricane early Saturday with sustained
winds of 120 mph (210 kph), but by
yesterday it was a rapidly weakening
tropical storm with winds of 60 mph
(95 kph). The US National Hurricane
Center said the storm was likely to fade
as it bends toward the coast of the
peninsula by midweek, bringing more
heavy rains to the Baja desert and to
the US Southwest.
Though it has stayed away from land,
Norbert passed near enough to the
coast in recent days to drench fishing
villages and resorts, and pound beaches.
High surf and waves broke a
contention wall and flooded the fishing
village of Puerto San Carlos, said
Venustiano Perez, mayor of the
municipality of Comondu, which
encompasses the village and is located
about 300 miles (500 kilometers) north
of the tip of the peninsula. (AP)
Hurricane Norbert weakens
TBILISI---The US military said
yesterday it had launched
airstrikes around Haditha Dam
in western Iraq, targeting Islamic
State insurgents there for the
first time in a move to prevent
the group from capturing the
vital dam.
The strikes represented a
broadening of the US campaign
against the Islamic State militants,
moving the military operations
closer to the border of Syria,
where the group also has been
operating.
Speaking in Georgia where he s
meeting with government and
defence officials, US Defence Sec-
retary Chuck Hagel said if the
dam were to fall into the militant s
hands "or if that dam would be
destroyed, the damage that that
would cause would be very sig-
nificant and it would put a sig-
nificant additional and big risk
into the mix in Iraq," including
US interests there.
At the same time, however,
Hagel rejected the suggestion that
the Haditha strikes opened up a
new front in the war against the
Islamic State group or that it rep-
resented an escalation of the US
military operations. US officials
said that while the Anbar Province
dam remains in control of the
Iraqis, the US offensive was an
effort to beat back militants who
have been trying to take over key
dams across the country, includ-
ing the Haditha complex.
Hagel said the Iraqi government
had asked the US to launch the
airstrikes and that Iraqi forces on
the ground conceived the oper-
ation.
Anbar has for some time been
a contested region between Iraqi
forces and Islamic State militants
backed by allied Sunni tribes. The
situation deteriorated significantly
in late December, and the mili-
tants took over parts of Ramadi
and Fallujah.
The Iraqi government and allied
tribes launched an offensive on
January 26 to wrest control of the
cities back from the militants and
sporadic clashes have continued
around Fallujah and in some parts
of Ramadi, with only limited suc-
cess by Iraqi security forces.
US airstrikes could greatly boost
their hand now.
"The dam is a critically impor-
tant facility for Iraq," Hagel said,
adding that the US is continuing
to explore all options for expand-
ing the battle against the Islamic
State into Syria.
The military said a mix of fight-
er and bomber aircraft conducted
four airstrikes, destroying five
Islamic State Humvees, another
armed vehicle, a checkpoint and
damaged a militant bunker. The
US aircraft safely exited the strike
area.
Last month, the Islamic State
fighters were able to take control
of the Mosul Dam in northern
Iraq , but persistent US airstrikes
dislodged the militants. And while
fighters have been trying to take
it back, the US has continued to
use strikes to keep them at bay.
The military said yesterday it
had also launched a fresh air
attack against militants near the
Mosul Dam.
Water is a precious commodity
in Iraq, a largely desert country
of 32.5 million people. The decline
of water levels in the Euphrates
over recent years has led to elec-
tricity shortages in towns south
of Baghdad, where steam-pow-
ered generators depend entirely
on water levels. (AP)
SPARTAK---A woman died and at
least four people were wounded when
fighting flared again in eastern
Ukraine overnight into yesterday,
jeopardising a ceasefire struck less
than two days earlier between Ukrain-
ian government forces and pro-Russ-
ian separatists.
At least two houses blazed in the
rural village of Spartak, which lies just
north of Donetsk and adjacent to the
airport, after they were hit by fire. A
man whose house was struck by a shell
said rebels had fired from a spot nearby,
which appeared to have provoked a
retaliatory attack from Ukrainian gov-
ernment troops. This pattern has been
regularly observed in the nearly five-
month-long military confrontation.
A group of rebel fighters in the village
danced and drank yesterday in cele-
bration after what they said was a suc-
cessful assault on a Ukrainian military
encampment in the vicinity. One said
their group had captured eight gov-
ernment troops, although none of these
captives could be seen.
The fighter, who provided only the
nom de guerre Khokhol, freely
acknowledged that the cease-fire was
not being respected by either side.
"There was mortar shelling around
20 minutes ago here in Spartak. There
is no cease-fire for anyone," he said.
The truce signed on Friday appeared
to be holding for much of the following
day, but was shattered late Saturday
by shelling on the outskirts of the
southeastern port town of Mariupol,
where Ukrainian troops retain defensive
lines against the rebels. The city council
said yesterday that one civilian was
killed there and a serviceman wound-
ed.The volunteer pro-government Azov
Battalion said on Facebook that their
positions were also hit by Grad rockets,
but did not give details.
Amnesty International condemned
all those engaged in the grinding conflict
that according to UN estimates has
claimed at least 2,600 civilian lives and
forced hundreds of thousands out of
their homes.
"All sides in this conflict have shown
disregard for civilian lives and are bla-
tantly violating their international obli-
gations," Amnesty International Sec-
retary General Salil Shetty said in a
statement. (AP)
Key Iraq dam safe for now
US airstrikes
repel militants
Air strikes break
Ukraine truce
A woman puts out the fire at her burning house after shelling in Donetsk,
Ukraine, yesterday. Strong explosions were heard on the outskirts of the main
rebel-held city in eastern Ukraine near the airport, raising new fears that a cease-
fire signed two days ago is on the verge of collapse. AP PHOTO
WASHINGTON---The US mili-
tary will join the fight against
fast-spreading Ebola in Africa,
President Barack Obama said in
an interview aired yesterday, but
he warned it would be months
before the epidemic slows.
Obama said that, in its current
form, he did not believe Ebola
would reach the United States,
but warned the virus could mutate
and become a much greater threat
to those outside Africa.
The president argued that the
deadly toll of the disease was being
exacerbated because of the rudi-
mentary public health infrastruc-
ture in Africa.
"We re going to have to get US
military assets just to set up, for
example, isolation units and
equipment there, to provide secu-
rity for public health workers surg-
ing from around the world,"
Obama said on NBC s "Meet the
Press."
"If we do that, then it s still
going to be months before this
problem is controllable in Africa,"
he said.
But he added, "if we don t make
that effort now, and this spreads
not just through Africa but other
parts of the world, there s the
prospect then that the virus
mutates.
"It becomes more easily trans-
mittable. And then it could be a
serious danger to the United
States."
The death toll from the Ebola
epidemic---which is spreading
across West Africa, with Liberia,
Guinea, Sierra Leone the worst
hit ---has topped 2,000, of nearly
4,000 people who have been
infected, according to the World
Health Organisation.
US military to join Ebola fight